Make our Stunning Christmas Pudding Soufflés.

Serve these Christmas Pudding Soufflés to you guests and you will instantaneously be seen as a culinary genius. People are always impressed by a served a souffle, in fact they are a lot easier than people imagine.

There are a few key points to souffle success, and I will explain all of these and highlight them at the end of the blog. This is a long post, but don’t be put off. I have tried to go into a much detail as possible to explain what is happening at each stage.

You can ether serve these on Christmas day or use them as a way of using up leftover pudding. I think Christmas pudding falls into the same trap as the turkey and the Christmas cake. We always buy one that is too large!

My advice is to make things as easy as possible and make the pastry cream the day before. That only leaves you to mix the base and whip the egg whites and you are ready to go.

You will need.

• 4 x 9cm ramekins
• Small glass bowl
• Medium glass bowl
• Large metal bowl to whip the whites
• Small whisk
• Large whisk
• Spatula
• Dusting sieve
• Scales
• Baking tray

Christmas Pudding Soufflés.

Makes 4 souffles.

• 130g                                       crumbled Christmas pudding
• 40ml                                       dark rum
• 155g                                       pastry cream
• 5                                             egg Whites
• Pinch                                     cream of Tartar
• 20g                                         caster sugar
• Soft butter and castor sugar, to line moulds

To make the pastry cream.

• 170ml                                     whole milk
• 25g                                         dark brown sugar
• 25g                                         plain flour
• 10g                                         cornflour
• Good dash                            vanilla essence
• Pinch                                     salt
• 2                                             large egg yolks

To serve the souffles.

•                                                 Icing sugar, to dust
•                                                 Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Oven temperature 200˚c – 400˚f.

Christmas Pudding Soufflés- Making the pastry cream.

Place the egg yolks into a medium sized bowl and beat in the dark brown sugar with a small whisk. Add the vanilla essence, flour, salt, and cornflower and mix together.

Mix in just enough of the milk to form a batter, then put the remaining milk on the stove to heat up. Have a small bowl, icing sugar and some cling film ready to receive the finished cream.

When the milk is hot, but not boiling, slowly add the milk to the bowl containing the egg yolks and flours. Make sure to whisk continually as you add the milk. When all the milk has been added, tip the contents of the bowl back into the pan, use a spatula to make sure all the ingredients have been transferred to the pan.

Cooking the pastry cream.

Return the pan to the heat and use the whisk to keep the contents moving. As the pan gets close to boiling the cream will begin to thicken. Give the cream a good whisking then switch to the spatula reducing the heat a little. Cook the cream over the heat for two to three minutes, when it should be thick enough to stand up on its own.

Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl, levelling it off a little.

CHEF’S TIP!

As soon as the pastry cream is levelled off, sprinkle a layer of icing sugar on top, then tightly cover with cling film.

As the cream cools, steam will turn the icing sugar into a syrup which will prevent a tough skin forming on the surface. The pastry cream can now be allowed to cool and will keep three to four days in the fridge.

Christmas Pudding Soufflés – Serving

Lining the ramekins.

This is one of the key stages in producing a good souffle. Look for ramekins with straight sides, (curved ones don’t work that well) and that are not too thick and heavy.

Heavier ramekins do work, but the souffle won’t begin to cook until the heat as penetrated the walls of the ramekin.

Have some soft, not melted butter, and caster sugar to hand. Using a pastry brush, coat the insides of the ramekin with the butter. Spoon some caster sugar into the ramekin, then holding the ramekin on its side rotate it letting the sugar spill back into the container. Have a good look at the inside and the rim of the ramekin, if you see any uncoated areas have another go.

For this I’m using 9cm / 175ml ramekins, but you can use smaller ones if you wish.

Christmas Pudding Soufflés – Whisking the egg whites.

Turn your oven on to 200˚c – 400˚f. I prefer to use a standard oven for souffles as I find some fan ovens can cause the souffles to lean over, like a tree in a strong wind.

Place a baking tray onto the middle shelf of the oven to pre – heat making sure there is enough hight above it to allow the souffles to rise.

Just before you begin to tackle the whites, have a bowl ready to mix everything together. Check the Christmas pudding and pastry cream are warm enough to work with. Particularly if you made the pastry cream the day before. A few seconds in the microwave will help. They need to be just warm and soft – not hot!

In a large clean bowl whisk the egg whites a little then add the cream of tartar. I prefer to whisk the whites by hand, so I can feel when they are ready. When you have light snowy texture begin to sprinkle in the sugar. This will stabilise the meringue and make it easier to mix in later.

Soft Peaks.

Use a machine by all means but be careful not to over whisk them. We don’t want the whites to be fully whipped, we are looking for what’s known as soft peak. The best way to judge this is to lift the whisk vertically out of the white then quicky turn it over. A peak of whites will be left on the end of the whisk. If the point of the peak has fallen over, that’s soft peak. If the peak sits firm and proud, that’s stiff peak.

Think of the egg white like a balloon. If they are over inflated by too much whisking as they rise in the oven they will inflate even more and like a balloon, burst. You will see your souffle rise in the oven, and just as you begin to congratulate yourself it will deflate and collapse in front of you.

Lightly whisk one-quarter of the whites into the souffle base to loosen it slightly, and then carefully fold in the remainder. Make sure that you do not overwork the mixture – this is to ensure you do not knock out all the air previously whisked in.

Christmas Pudding Soufflés – Mixing the souffle.

Take the mixing bowl and add the Christmas pudding and rum. Using the spatula, beat the two together to soften the pudding. Add the pastry cream to the bowl and beat the two together to combine.

Now take roughly a quarter of the whites and beat them into the base you have just made. This is to soften up the mixture even more.

Add all the remaining whites to the bowl, but now gently fold the white into the base with the spatula.

The technique we use is called, Cut and Fold. Hold the spatula at the far side of the bowl, toughing the bottom of the bowl, with the edge facing towards you. Bring the spatula towards you and as you reach the edge of the bowl twist your wrist and lift the spatula. This will lift the mixture at the bottom of the bowl to the surface and fold it into the souffle mix. Give the bowl a slight turn then repeat the process.

Keep folding and turning the bowl until the whites are incorporated into the souffle.

CHEF’S TIP.

Over folding will spoil the souffle. So, if you’re not sure when to stop, look at the mixture. When you have thin streaks of egg white still visible it ready. If the egg whites have completely disappeared, its overmixed. Don’t worry the streaks of egg white will disappear in baking.

Christmas Pudding Soufflés – Baking

Contrary to common belief, the souffles do not need to go into the oven immediately. So, relax, you can leave the filled ramekins ten minutes or so without problem. However, when they come out of the oven, we need to serve them at once. If you are serving a number of people, appoint somebody to be ready and help carry them to the table when they are ready.

Make sure you have your serving plates ready. If you are serving ice cream, have it already scooped back in the freezer, and have an icing sugar sieve ready to dust the cooked souffles.

Open the oven, and quickly place the souffles onto the pre-heated tray, closing the door as quickly as possible. Don’t be tempted to have a peep at them while they are cooking, set a timer for 12 minutes. Go round and top up the drinks, put anything like ice cream of cream ready onto the table, and wait.

When the timer goes off you should have well risen light brown souffles. Lift the tray from the oven, dust the tops of the souffles with icing sugar and serve.

Souffle Making- The Key Points.

Have well coated serving dishes.

It’s crucial that the mixture can rise within the dish it’s been baked in. make sure the whole of the interior of the dish is coated as well as the rim. If your souffle only rises at one side, its because you missed coating a bit of the inside.

Pre-heat your baking tray.

For the souffles to rise we need to get heat into the ramekins as quickly as possible. Using a cold baking tray will slow down the cooking process resulting in in a souffle that is cooked on top, but raw underneath.

Don’t over beat the egg whites.

Less is more here, if you’re not sure on how to whisk the whites have a practice beforehand. A couple of wasted egg whites could save you a whole batch of souffle mix.

Gently fold the white into the souffle base.

Folding the whites into the base, using cut and fold retains the air beaten into the whites. Why go to all that bother to whisk in all that air, then beat it back out again.

F.A.Qs.

Enjoy Life!

John.

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